Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

Montreal Hunter: 1954

Typical Montreal scene in the 1950's except for the deer. Those houses with their staircases represent well that neighbourhood called "La Petite Patrie." Houses were built in the 1920's. The little fellow on the bicycle is my uncle. I guess the Mercury Meteor is from 1950. View full size.

What a pleasure to come across a Shorpy photo of the city you live in. Those outdoor staircases, so typical of many Montreal neighborhoods, may seem absurd or impractical at first glance, especially considering the harsh winter climate, but they exist as a means to save space in rowhouses while providing a setback from the public sidewalk and, at the same time, to economize on indoor heating costs. I live in an older neighbourhood (1880s) where the replacement of these staircases is closely monitored to preserve the heritage look. A recent poll found them to be the symbol most readily associated with the city. As for the guy in the street with the rifle, I don't see that very much at all.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.